Why CSUN?
CSUN offers one of the largest teacher credentialing programs in the United States, and prepares more credential candidates than any other public institution of higher education in the state of California. The COE and the CSM have a long history of collaboration in working with in-service and pre-service science teachers. Professors in secondary and elementary science education are currently working with professors of geology, biology, and chemistry on a variety of professional development programs for enhancing the teaching of science.
California State University Northridge offers master’s degree programs in Science Education, Mathematics Education, and Educational Technology. Unlike some schools where the master’s degree is a simple add-on to the credential, the CSUN Master’s of Education programs require both a credential and years of teaching experience before starting the 2-year program. Master’s degrees in content level sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Physics) are offered through the CSM. Some students graduating from these programs go on to get secondary teaching credentials and enter the high school classroom. Although CSUN is located in a region of high-need, we benefit from our proximity to many high-tech firms and institutes. Our science education credential program draws numerous candidates from industry, many of whom possess advanced degrees in fields such as medicine, engineering, microbiology, chemistry, physics, and geology.
For the past 25 years, CSUN has placed nearly 100% of its science credential candidates in secondary school classrooms. Many of the supervising teachers (those who supervise student teachers during their practicum) in the local schools have been mentoring student teachers for years, and their experience and expertise will be invaluable as we forge a collaborative program to train new master teachers. Faculty at CSUN are nationally recognized, and books authored by our faculty on the methods of teaching secondary science are among the most popular in the nation. We have a strong curriculum in both science education and science content and we look forward to further strengthening them. For many years we have been involved as a collaborative team working with in-service science teachers from Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and we have provided much training in content and pedagogy for 6-12th grade science teachers. CSUN is a great place for Noyce Scholars to grow.
The CSUNoyce Phase II program will build upon the highly successful Phase 1 Program. The Phase 1 Program provided critical enrollment to establish CSUN’s Integrated Math/Credential Program, and we anticipate that the Phase 2 Program will help establish the Integrated Math/Credential Program as an exemplar for other universities to follow. The Phase 1 program also provided the impetus for the development of a capstone course for prospective math education majors, and we anticipate that the CSUNoyce Phase II will solidify this course in the math education sequence and serve as a model for other math education programs in the state.
During Phase I, we were also able to leverage resources, activities, and expertise from other externally funded programs on campus that target STEM professionals, teacher professional development, and STEM student development. CSUNoyce Phase II scholars will benefit from the relationships established in Phase 1 by working with underpriveleged secondary students in Upward Bound and Project Grad Los Angeles (PGLA) (see letter of support from PGLA in appendix). Both of these federally funded programs prepare students for college. By exposing Upward Bound and PGLA students to quality math and science experiences with our CSUNoyce Phase II scholars, we expect to increase student interest in STEM education and careers. CSUNoyce Phase II scholars will develop their teaching and mentoring skills by working with teachers in selected high-need schools. Noyce Scholars will thereby impact the lives of students from the high-need communities from which many of them will have come.
Phase I Noyce Math Scholars taught in a “Summer Institute” for middle school math and science students. Math scholars participated in a “Responsive Teaching Cycle” (SITTE, 2012) where they met and collaborated with middle school math teachers and CSUN mathematics education faculty to discuss lesson planning. The Noyce Scholars then taught the lessons and met again to discuss how the teaching went, what their students learned, and how to improve the experience for all involved. This “cycle” continued during a 3-week period, which was productive for the Noyce Scholars, the teachers they assisted and the middle school students they taught and tutored. In addition, Phase I Noyce Science Scholars worked at the CSUN PGLA Summer Institute, collaborating with CSUN science and science education faculty as well as LAUSD teachers to design and implement hands-on, inquiry-based science lessons. Our CSUNoyce Phase II will build upon both of these programs. Noyce Scholars will thereby get extensive teaching experiences which will better prepare them to enter our STEM teaching credential program